The Sunshine Blogger Award

My good friend and fellow blogger Elise Edmonds has nominated me for The Sunshine Blogger Award!

The purpose of the award is to answer a series of questions from the point of view of one of my characters. Not only am I honored to be participating, but I’ll also be nominating three other awesome bloggers to host their own character interview!

Branwen, from Within the Ironwood, has offered to participate. As Elise did not pose her own questions for me, I’ll be using some of the questions she answered and some of my own.

Take it away, Branwen!

First of all, who are you?

I am Crown Princess Branwen, but please just call me Branwen. Yes, I’m my father’s only child, and yes, I’ll rule when he passes away, but I really prefer to build beautiful mechanical constructs in my workshop. I’m not sure I’ll make a good enough ruler, as my condition means I can’t go outside.

What condition is that?

I’m very pale and burn easily. My hair is white (my ladies-in-waiting dye it black). My eyes tend to be reddish brown or red, depending on the light. I think you would call it albinism, but it isn’t a condition that’s heard of in our kingdom. None of the healers or chemists or mages have been able to do more for me than correct my eyesight (which was terrible when I was a child, according to my head lady-in-waiting).

Are you named for someone in your author’s life? If so, why? Do you like your name?

No, I’m not. She chose my name because it is related to the word “white”, like “snow white”. She didn’t want to call me Snow White or Snow, since those are the typical names used in fairy tale retellings of “Snow White”. My name actually means “beautiful raven”, but the “wen” part is derived from “gwen” which means “fair, white, blessed”. I love birds, so I love having a name related to a bird. Even if I think the “blessed” part is stretching things a bit.

Do you feel confident that you’re going to make it into a sequel (or would, if there was one)? Why or why not?

I’m quite confident of this fact, because it’s already planned and I know I play a (small) part in the story.

Do you have a sidekick or helper? Who are they?

Yes! When my story began, I was putting the finishing touches to a little mechanical sparrow, who I named Aeden (or Prince Aeden, as he insists). He’s a bit of a rascal at times, but truly a prince at heart, and he has become my constant companion. At least when my ladies-in-waiting aren’t chasing him out of the room!

Is your author disproportionately cruel to you, or does she enjoy embarrassing you for comic relief?

My story has only begun, so I’m not sure what she has in store for me. However, every time I try to broach the subject with her, she becomes upset and refuses to explain what’s coming. I have a feeling that whatever it is, I won’t like it. I can’t imagine her embarrassing me for comic relief, though. She’s not that kind of an author. At least to me (I can’t speak for her other characters).

Let’s wrap up that interview–seven questions is a good number. Poor Branwen, she has no idea what I have in store for her yet… Let’s just say that she’s going to probably hate me for the rest of the book. Maybe for the rest of the series.

Now, for the nominations!

I nominate the following three bloggers for the Sunshine Blogger Award! Definitely check out their blogs and their books; they’re all awesome authors!